SAN ANTONIO — Republican Greg Abbott looked out Sunday on a downtown plaza full of supporters and saw an unbroken field to becoming Texas’ next governor.

On the anniversary of his greatest misfortune, the state attorney general proclaimed his highest ambition to serve as governor. He promised to represent average Texans, pledging a continuation of his principles on guns, grit and greatness.

“Just as I’ve been a voice for liberty and the Constitution, I’ll be a voice for you,” Abbott said.

Precisely 29 years ago Sunday, a huge oak tree cracked and fell on Abbott as he was jogging in Houston. The accident crushed his back, damaged his kidneys and pinned him forever to a wheelchair.

“It was a challenge that made me even being here highly improbable,” Abbott told the crowd, which persevered under a sweltering sun to witness the announcement.

But, he said, it served literally to give him “a spine of steel.”

“After my accident, I realized our lives aren’t defined by how we’re challenged. Instead, we define our lives by how we respond to challenges,” Abbott said to huge cheers.

With Gov. Rick Perry deciding against a bid for re-election, Abbott takes on the status as early front-runner — and target. His Republican rival says Abbott is too cozy with Capitol insiders and Democrats say he supports policies that hurt women and the working class.

But Abbott, 55, begins the campaign on a solid foundation. He’s won five statewide races, beginning in 1996 as Texas Supreme Court justice and since 2002 as attorney general. He already has a towering $20 million in his political accounts. And he’s backed by social conservatives and the Republican establishment in a GOP-dominated state.

Abbott did not mention Perry in his speech, which mostly focused on broad Texas-hued themes and highlights of his career.

He gave familiar political shoutouts to gun rights, anti-abortion themes and keeping government small.

Former GOP state chairman Tom Pauken, who is challenging Abbott in the March GOP primary, called the race a referendum “for the soul of the Republican Party.”

He said Sunday that Abbott deserves praise for his accomplishments and overcoming hardships. But he said he differs with Abbott over the role of big money, lobbyists and “sweetheart deals.”

“Will we return again to Reaganesque grass-roots, relieving frustrated Texans from a government which is all too willing to be their master and not their servant?” asked Pauken, who once worked for former President Ronald Reagan.

“Texans deserve a robust campaign that lets voters see the differences between the two candidates. Texas Republicans will have a real choice in this race,” Pauken said.

Democrats also jumped in, calling Abbott “another step backward” for a party “trying to gain relevance outside of its narrow, right-wing base.”

So far, no Democrat has emerged as a potential contender. That party hasn’t won statewide office in almost two decades.

Some have called on state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth to jump in. She shot to prominence over her filibuster that temporarily derailed an anti-abortion bill.

In his speech several blocks from the Alamo, Abbott touted his efforts to stop government “overreaching.”

“When it comes to our freedom and our future, I will never, I will never, stop fighting,” he said.

Abbott, as the state’s top legal officer, bragged of suing over the Affordable Care Act the day President Barack Obama signed it into law. He also noted winning a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision to maintain a statue of the Ten Commandments on the Capitol lawn.

“Government is supposed to be by your side, not riding your back,” he said.

In the heat, about 300 supporters received yellow fans that read: “Fast cars, firearms & freedom. It’s a Texas thing.”

In carrying the Perry mantle, Abbott said he would continue to hold down spending, while placing renewed emphasis on highway infrastructure, water reserves and improving education.

In the only discernible divergence from Perry, and in an echo of Pauken’s concerns, Abbott pledged to get “government out of the business of picking winners and losers.”

Perry has championed and helped control hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars doled out as incentives for businesses to relocate or expand in Texas.

Starting Monday in Houston and McAllen, Abbott will travel to nine cities throughout the state over four days to introduce his campaign. On Tuesday, he will stop in Duncanville, where he spent his teenage years.